It’s not like teachers had it made before the pandemic. We saw them marching around the Capitol in 2018, then some of them booed the governor, John Hickenlooper, while he tried to support them in a lunchtime speech.

The issue then for teachers across the state was low pay. For rural communities, the issue is finding teachers at all.

Colorado has a list of dire problems – climate change, looming water shortages, fiscal irresponsibility and the Broncos’ mediocre offense – but underpaying teachers is a Rocky Mountain tradition that’s good for election-year lip service but never gets what it needs compared to what it gives back to our children, families and future.

You can’t blame educators for feeling undervalued – because they are. Keep that in mind as lawmakers boast of their investment in electrical vehicle charging stations and new after-school programs they’ll get political credit for when they ignore the needs of schools and teachers that they’ve ignored for more than a decade.

Where you choose to spend your money speaks louder than a robocall.

Add burnout to the reasons why people are avoiding the teaching profession.

The Colorado Education Association’s “State of Education Report” spelled out the crisis this month.

The public education system is at risk, as negligence is an open exit door from the profession.

Throw in abuse leveled by over-caffeinated parents because of mask mandates disguised as free speech, and the situation looks even worse.

The leading state teacher’s union surveyed a 1,400-person representative sample of its 39,000 members in October. The sentiment of more than half was that 2021 was worse that 2020, the year the world fell apart because of COVID-19.

“There was overwhelming dismay at the lack of resources and few professionals to help deal with students with much higher academic, mental health, and behavioral needs than ever before,” the report stated.

Who do they feel is the chief purveyor of disrespect? State elected officials were cited by more than 2 out of 3. Next was the school district, as named by about 1 in 3.

The solution? Better pay and benefits, responded 58.8%. Autonomy to do the job, said another 21.7%.

Autonomy is an interesting No. 2. Parents who would or should punish their kids for acting like they do need to cool it. Being a teacher is kind of like being a reporter; everyone who can spell thinks he or she can do it. They nearly never can.

In a section of the report called, “What Educators are Saying,” an unnamed Coloradan reportedly said, “The mental and physical stressors are too high. I can make more money in a less taxing environment.”

You can read the full report by clicking here.

On the other hand, getting more than three months off a year is probably a good stress-buster, and so are state benefits and the job security of tenure. The last time I checked, no schools were bought by a hedge fund prone to cut pay and staff, or make people so miserable they take a PR job. Believe me, where I used to work toted those stressors by the barrel.

Perception is reality, however, and if politics were as simple as math that would mean 65 of the state’s 100 lawmakers should be worried about their jobs next year.

That won’t happen for a lot of reasons, but one of them is because they individually talk a good game about what they’re doing for education.

The results, though, speak louder, if anyone is listening.

Lawmakers don’t even break even. The General Assembly is nearly $10 billion in the hole to pay to public education what voters told them in 2000 to annually cover the cost of inflation plus 1%.  Without coming right out and telling the truth – “we care, but not that much” – lawmakers treat it like a bill too big to pay.

They should be ashamed, but there is no shame in politics.

Colorado was graded a D-plus for equity and spending in Education Week’s June magazine. How embarrassing is that? Alabama got a C-minus and Wyoming received a B-plus. Ouch.

Like a report card, those grades come home: 82% of Colorado kids finish high school, compared to a 92% graduation rate in Alabama.

Even before the pandemic, Colorado spent $2,158 per pupil less than the national average. The shakeout of 2020 and 2021 won’t improve those numbers.

“The last 21 months have been crushing for our educators and students and there seems to be no end in sight,” said Amie Baca-Oehlert, high school counselor and president of the Colorado Education Association.

She said the union is ready to fight for a fairer share.

“Our voices will be the loudest at the Capitol come January as our students, educators and communities deserve nothing less,” she said.

Shaking our heads for a decade hasn’t solved a worsening problem. Hold legislators accountable might. When an incumbent belches a smokescreen of good intentions and legislative gobbledegook – I’m convinced lawmakers take a gobbledegook class – then the next question is obvious but rarely asked.

Then why are things still screwed up if you’re doing so much?

Every year you could grade the General Assembly with an I for incomplete.